Home Office

Immigration: Applications

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for further leave to remain via the five year route have been pending for over eleven months.

Robert Jenrick: An applicant applying in the UK to extend a family visa (spouse or partner on a 5-year route to settlement) should get a decision within 8 weeks - Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).Current transparency data from the update on 24th November 2022 contains data from Q3 2021. Percentage of straightforward, standard family applications processed within stated processing times: LTR – 98.6%. Data on the number of applications for further leave to remain via the five-year route which have been pending for more than eleven months does not form part of any current transparency data and is not published.The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing and service standard data and can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Immigration: Applications

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for further leave to remain via the ten year route have been pending for over eleven months.

Robert Jenrick: Data on the number of pending applications for leave to remain on the Family and Human Rights ten-year route, waiting for particular periods of time, is not held in a publishable form. Data on work-in-progress for this application type is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-protection-data-q2-2022See tab HR_03.

Visas: Turkey

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of processing times for Turkish Businessperson visa extension applications.

Robert Jenrick: The latest data on ECAA matters is routinely published as part of UKVI Transparency data. The most recent published data for outstanding ECCA applications can be found here: Visas and Citizenship data: Q3 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Under Visas and Citizenship Data, Tab VSI_03 includes the number of straightforward applications and non-straightforward applications which remained outstanding at the end of the last reported period. The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Scheme applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted on the delivery of some of our service standards. Resource has now been restored to the ECAA team.

Visas: Applications

Patricia Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on improving visas processes; and what steps he is taking to (a) lower costs and (b) increase the efficiency of visa processes for specialists from abroad.

Robert Jenrick: UK Visas and Immigration has faced a number of pressures over the last two years and have seen high demand following the easing of travel restrictions as well as the crisis in both Afghanistan and Ukraine.UKVI are committed to ensuring that its operational teams have the resources they need to run an efficient and effective system, and actively monitor workflows to ensure sufficient resources are in place to meet demand, increasing our use of contingent labour where necessary.UK Visas and Immigration continue to regularly update their guidance on expected waiting times so that customers have a realistic indication of how long their applications will take to be processed and can plan accordingly.Service standards are the official timeframes that UKVI work towards Priority services have also been reinstated across our key visa routes which enables customers to receive a decision within 5 days for Priority Visa Services (PV) and the next working day for Super Priority Visas (SPV).The Home Office keeps fees under review. Fees for migration and borders products and services play a vital role in our country’s ability to run a sustainable system. We believe it is right that those who use the systems should contribute to its cost, thereby reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer.

Visas: Ukraine

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the reasons for 55,500 Ukrainian visa holders not arriving in the UK since their visa has been issues; and if she will make an estimate of the number of Ukrainian visa holders who have not arrived in the UK due to one or more members of a family group not being issued with a visa.

Robert Jenrick: Ukrainian nationals issued a visa or Permission to Travel letter to enter the UK under one of the Ukraine schemes may chose not to travel for a number of reasons, but this is not something that is reported to UKVI.UKVI aim to issue all family groups together to ensure a family unit is not separated and to safeguard individuals.

Visas: Turkey

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time is for Turkish Businessperson visa extension applications.

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the processing times for Turkish Businessperson visa extension applications.

Robert Jenrick: The latest data on ECAA matters is routinely published as part of UKVI Transparency data. The most recent published data for outstanding ECCA applications can be found here: Visas and Citizenship data: Q3 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Under Visas and Citizenship Data, Tab VSI_03 includes the number of straightforward applications and non-straightforward applications which remained outstanding at the end of the last reported period. The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Scheme applications in response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, which has impacted on the delivery of some of our service standards. Full resource has now been restored to the team.

Passports: Applications

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications were not fully processed within 10 weeks in each of the last 3 years.

Robert Jenrick: Since April 2021, His Majesty’s Passport Office has advised people to allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their passport using the standard service in the UK.   Published processing times for overseas applications vary, starting from 11 weeks The volume of printed passports for each year from 2019 where the application was not processed within ten weeks, is shown in the table below:Year% of standard UK applications completed in over 10 weeks% of overseas applications completed in over 10 weeks20190.23%2.91%20201.75%42.94%20210.66%8.11%2022 (to 30 November)4.66%18.45%

Asylum: Housing

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2022 to Question 98774, how many (a) full-time equivalent staff are employed in his Contract Assurance Team and (b) inspections that team made of (i) contingency and (ii) dispersal accommodation between 1 April 2022 and 30 September 2022.

Robert Jenrick: The Contract Assurance team currently has 22 full time equivalent staff. From April to September the team conducted 192 inspections of contingency accommodation and 442 inspections of dispersal accommodation, alongside other contract assurance activities.Once initial checks and considerations are complete, and an individual site is identified as potentially suitable, providers are given approval to begin due diligence and engagement with hotel and the Home Office begins its engagement activity with local partners including notice to Chief Executive and MPs. Due diligence covers a range of issues including compliance with statutory requirements as well as general suitability and environment.The ICIBI also conducted a thorough review of contingency accommodation. Their findings were published in May 2022 and the Home Office has accepted all of the recommendations made.

Detention Centres: Manston

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department took to act on the findings of the report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons into conditions at Manston asylum centre published in July 2022 which indicated that the facilities at Manston for managing people with infectious diseases were poor.

Robert Jenrick: .The HMIP report lists 6 Priority Concerns and 8 further Key Concerns which HMIP inspectors felt required addressing at Manston and Western Jetfoil. While one of the Priority Concerns (Priority Concern 3) referenced weaknesses in the governance of health care processes, no specific mention was made in any of the concerns about facilities at Manston for managing people with infectious diseases.  The Home Office developed a Service Improvement Plan in response to the 14 Concerns listed in the report, and worked quickly with its medical contractors to ensure that the deficiencies highlighted in Priority Concern 3 were quickly addressed.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Online Safety Bill

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on the planned timetable for the remaining stages of the Online Safety Bill.

Paul Scully: Following its second day of Report on 5 December 2022, the Online Safety Bill completed its second House of Commons Committee Stage on 15 December.The Bill remains a priority and the government is committed to ensuring it passes as swiftly as possible. Parliamentary scheduling remains a matter for the Business Managers.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Alcoholic Drinks

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prisons in which alcohol was distilled in each of the last three years.

Damian Hinds: The number of prisons in England and Wales in which alcohol distilling equipment was found in each of the last three years can be seen in our Finds Incidents Data Tool. This tool can be used to see which prisons had incidents of finding distilling equipment in different financial years, and how many incidents of finds there were each year.There may be occasions where distilled alcohol has been found, but no equipment. Figures in the table count the number of incidents where equipment was found rather than the number of pieces of equipment.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Wind Power

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to include micro urban wind turbines in the Government's solar and wind strategy.

Graham Stuart: The Government is serious about delivering cheaper, cleaner, more secure energy, and will consider all options for increasing electricity generation from renewable sources, including at the small-scale. The Government already supports small-scale onshore wind through the Smart Export Guarantee, which ensures small-scale (5MW) low-carbon electricity generators, such as homes with wind turbines, get payment for the renewable electricity they export to the grid.

Department of Health and Social Care

Protective Clothing: Storage

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the value for money to the public purse of Government storage arrangements for PPE in China.

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether analysis has been undertaken to establish whether all the PPE stored in China is (a) still usable and (b) meets the standards required for use in the UK.

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what quality control methods were used by by his Department to help ensure that PPE procured from China met UK standards during the covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make an estimate of the proportion of PPE that did not meet the required standard for use in the UK.

Will Quince: The Department regularly reviews optimal storage solutions for personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure value for money. The Department reviews the quality of all PPE purchased and to determine whether these products are suitable for use by frontline staff. Stock which has not passed initial quality assurance will be identified as not for use in medical settings. The Department undertakes a full visual assessment of all the stock held in China and in the United Kingdom.